Have taken note of recent branch collapse: Civic chief

Mumbai: Reacting to the Hindustan Times report about the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) callous attitude towards the recent branch collapse incident in Kalina, where 36-year-old Anne Fernandes’s spine was crushed, municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya said he would take serious note of the incident.

Mumbai: Reacting to the Hindustan Times report about the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) callous attitude towards the recent branch collapse incident in Kalina, where 36-year-old Anne Fernandes’s spine was crushed, municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya said he would take serious note of the incident.

Even deputy municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta said that the confusion over the incident was ‘unacceptable’.

On October 3, Hindustan Times had reported how top civic officials – from ward officer to the deputy municipal commissioner (gardens) – were unaware of the incident even as week after it had occurred. The ward officer of H-East ward, Anand Waghralkar had even visited the spot a day after the incident.

However, on Sunday, Waghralkar said he wasn’t completely aware about the details of the incident. He had named Deputy Superintendent of Gardens (western suburbs) Kamlashankar Yadav as the man responsible for an inquiry into the incident. Yadav, on his part, said he knew about the incident only through newspaper reports.

“I have taken a very serious view of the incident. We will have to ensure that such incidents are reported immediately by ward-level officials,” said Kshatriya.

Gupta went a step ahead and said, “The confusion over the incident is unacceptable. The ward-level officials have to be aware of the policy. Hence, I have decided to convene a meeting of all ward-level officials, primarily horticulture assistants (HA) to instruct them on the same.”

Ironically, the civic body’s compensation policy, announced last week, makes it compulsory for every HA to file a preliminary report about any tree collapse incident within three days of it happening. However, in Fernandes’s case, even a week after the mishap, senior civic officials were completely ignorant about the incident.

Fernandes has been has been taken off the ventilator. “The doctors are happy with her progress and she has been responding well, without the ventilator.” said her brother Anthony D’Souza.